Missouri Schools Consider “Open Enrollment”

Parenting

by Lamar Tyler | on February 11th, 2010 | 6 comments

schoolbus

In Missouri a new bill before the Senate Education Committee proposes that students should be allowed to enroll in any school district that they please beginning next school year. Those in favor state that this would foster greater competition between the schools and in the end the children will be the winners. Oponents of the bill believe that privaleged and wealthy children will be the only ones who will be able to take advantage of the new law if passed. If a parent wanted to move their child to another district they would be responsible for coordinating travel to and from school for their child and some say this is a luxury only wealthy parents could afford. From the Missouran:

Mayer, as well as other witnesses who spoke before the committee, said open enrollment would create and foster competition and motivate flagging schools to improve, especially in the realm of special needs children.

“Open enrollment would allow families that are not satisfied with the education that they are receiving to look around at other schools in the area,” said Earl Simms, state director of the Children’s Educational Council, which represents children with physical and mental disabilities.

“They might find that some other district has better programs for their child,” Simms said.

Mayer said students, or their parents, would be responsible for transportation to and from a new school.

Witnesses speaking against the bill said it would favor those whose parents have the means or time to shuttle their children or who are active enough to consider seeking a relocation.

For the complete article click here.

BMWK what do you think? Would only the wealthy benefit? Would something like this in your area help or hurt schools? If you lived here would you support or oppose this bill?

About the author

Lamar and Ronnie Tyler are the creators of the award-winning blog BlackandMarriedWithKids.com . They also are behind the Amazon.com bestselling DVDs Happily Ever After: A Positive Image of Black Marriage, You Saved Me and Men Ain’t Boys that explores manhood in the African American community. The Tylers are also the proud parents of four children.

Christina

Well, as a Missourian, I’m interested to see what happens. I think the bill will be beneficial to my family, but I don’t know that it’s of benefit to all. I’m not at all wealthy, but I would have the means to send my children to the school of my choice (which incidentally, would be an inner city magnet school. I live in an suburban area and so my kids can’t go to the magnet schools). However, unlike the desegregation program St. Louis had in place a few years ago, there will not be a busing option, so the parents of poorer students have less opportunity to get to the school of their choice.

Minnesota went to open enrollment in the late 80′s with limited success.
Bryan

From a fiscal standpoint, it seems unfair for people who pay property taxes within a district to pay to educate kids from outside the district. You’re going to get an exodus of kids out of the bad districts, and flooding the good ones. This will strain the resources of the good school, lowering their quality.
Anna

Christina, that is just it. My State implimented this many years ago. We have “school report cards”. A school is graded and can end up on “watch”, for performance. How is a parent to get the child to a school that is performing better, especially if the child lives right down the street from the school they are in? We have many brand new buildings for not only grade schools, but Jr High and High Schools. We (Our) City voted almost a decade ago to use our tax dollars to build new schools. One of the new schools is not doing well with the teaching(and the students) and this public school is in danger of closing. It is a beautiful school and I say don’t toss away the kids who want a school and not have to be shipped outside of their community. Bring in better educated teachers willing to appreciate that some parents are involved in their child(rens) education. I am not in any way blaming the teachers or the parents, but why not get together as a community to make it work in the schools that are already in our neighborhood? The schools that have been built over the last few years are not cheap. Our city has spent on one school over $2 million dollars. , but some schools have already been built and it was in the “double digits” millions. There are more Charter Schools popping up that parents think are better than a traditional public school. I say do your research. As we get older we lean that what glitters is not always gold. A new school may “glitter”, but I want it to shine. It’s not a “In With The New, Out With The Old”. We all know how to make something old shine. I say retrain teachers, or train those that have been teachers so long that they just forget that times have changed and kids are differnet from yester year.
Anna

Bryan February 11, 2010 at 11:58 pm
From a fiscal standpoint, it seems unfair for people who pay property taxes within a district to pay to educate kids from outside the district. You’re going to get an exodus of kids out of the bad districts, and flooding the good ones. This will strain the resources of the good school, lowering their quality.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Bryan, I just saw your comment. I took a break in typing my comment.. LOL. I pay taxes in a school district where kids don’t even want to go to school. Look at my above comment. These kids have better schools than I did when I was in school. My kids are either in or out out of college and my husband and I still vote for a better school system(as we did when the kids were in public schools). I like to think that when I cast my vote or any vote I have casted in the last decade that my tax dollars were used wisely, building/replacing public schools in all neighborhoods.
mly

I grew up in a small town with open enrollment (in Ohio). There is no such thing as a mass exodus. Schools created caps based on how many children they could take on or have transfer out each year. A few transferred to the large high school in the area. Others transferred to smaller, more rural schools for their agriculture opportunities. Before you draw assumptions about what will happen, I’d encourage you to look at the dozen or so other states that have mandatory open enrollment, and see if the sky has fallen there.

Yes, we use property taxes to support schools locally, but these are public schools. They belong to everyone, to every child. No amount of property taxes should prohibit a family who lives an hour closer to a neighboring school district from transferring to a closer school and saving hours of drive time. I know if I were a child, I wouldn’t want to be denied an opportunity because it’s not fair to the bureaucracy.
http://blackandmarriedwithkids.com Tjay

I live in Missouri. Am a product of urban schools and am a college degreed professional. I am against the open enrollment we moved to an area with good schools and have paid for it in high property taxes. The schools are not perfect but our kids don’t have to go thru metal detectors when they enter the building or have to walk into buildings the graffiti sprayed on them. The metroplitan area I live in was featured on national television a decade ago with having the most expensive school buildings in the nation. The buildings were new and education programs were theme based however a decade later the district does no have state accrediation and there is a proposal to close almost half of the schools in the disctrict. Such action would result in the floodgates opening an a mass exodus to the suburban schools brining with it many of the problems that have plauged the urban district.
.-= Tjay´s last blog ..Videos We Love: Dr. Negleatha Johnson – Take Your Time =-.